President Obama recently called for the elimination of “tax breaks for private jet owners,” painting anyone who doesn’t cram themselves into 28 inches of economy legroom as a fat-cat wastrel. (www.forbes.com) More...

I work as a line service tech. Private jets bring jobs to millions of people in the US. From the refineries that sell millions of gallons of JetA and 100LL, to the huge mx firms that fix airplanes, outfit them with cool gadgets, redo the interiors and so on. Not to mention, business people who use private jets almost always use them to get to destinations in order to do business. One of our clients, who owned a G550 N282Q, traveled all over the world for his medical company, selling products and raking in money by the billions that the US government would in turn, TAX. I see eye to eye with democrats when it comes to social issues, but democrats as a whole have no idea how an economy works.

This article talks about "flashy" aspects only; not the positive uses. When Cessna introduced the original Citation, we sold some to individuals, but most to company accountants. That is still true today. The ability to get to a destination, or destinations, in a minimal time at peak efficiency is a major reason to own a corporate aircraft. When you can visit 3-4 sites, get your business done, and return home in one day; it is a good and proper use. I won't dwell on it, but you might remember how many people aviation manufacturing employs (or did before we became "BAD") and how many aircraft were sold overseas to the benefit of our trade deficit.

The only thing amazing is how bad Forbes has become. Very poorly done article by Forbes. It looks like a quick google search conglomeration with no checking of facts and poor or no editing. A waste of time and energy.

Who's the "Fat Cat" here? Air Force One never seems to shutdown engines. Oh yeah, he's still in Florida - private golf lessons with Harmon and private golf with Mr. Woods. Phony. And, wifey is vacationing in Aspen - taken there by yet another commercial-size private jet ... Integrity? None. Taxpayer dollars? All we need.

No wonder that execs were mad at Obama´s comments on corporate jets and don't tire of extolting the "virtues" of corporate jet travel but very cleaverly dodge the fact that the extraordinarily high costs are written off against tax breaks which means that all these barges are paid for by you and me and millions of taxpayers.

Those execs are the ones who pay the FBO to hangar the bird, the mechanic to work on it, the pilot to fly it, employees of the company who built it... Not to mention all the suppliers who keeps the parts moving, the gas companies that keeps fuel moving as well. When you stop this, you are affecting a lot more than a company exec and his private jet. A Poor man never hired anyone to do his work for him. If the rich do not hire the people, the people will be on well fare. Corporations will survive... If government makes it hard for the to do it, then they are going to cut back. obama and other Liberals do not understand this, obama knows he has power as long as he has control over people. If he keeps supplying them money, they keep supporting him. I feel this is only the beginning. Look through history, other countries were not taken over in a day...

What you say is quite in line with the vision of the companies that make these jets and the 5 million a year execs, and this is fine, what Obaama is saying is that the special tax break privileges should stop now. So don't be a fool nor get angrynhobody is questioning the right to work of the fuelers, pilots, mechannics, line boys, etc.

chalet, you are not thinking things thru. Tax breaks should be given to the tax generators. Government uses taxes to reward or discourage behavior. The use of corporate jets make big companies big money and adds to the tax base as business expands. obama wants to discourage this. What he and his washington posse can't figure out is the math. Would you rather get 50% of 10 million dollars or lower taxes, let business expand, and get 30% of 20 million dollars? Raise taxes and the equation goes the other way. Its not rocket science.

The expenses related to corporate jets are staggering as this Forbes (a mazazine that is a 100% for corporate America) article shows and it is not fully justified, it is just an excuse for the big shots to travel in a very cushy manner as opposed to mainstream of working people made up of engineers, salesmen, professionals which comprise the remaining 99.9999% of the work force and who have to travel in a most modest manner. Just to show you an example, when there is a big event like the Superbowl and others the amount of "corporate" jets descending upon the locale begs for an explanation, and who pays for all of that; all those expenses are shifted to the corporation which in turn affects profitability and thence amount of taxes paid. This is what President Obama is against.

Your example is perfect! As a corporate pilot, I have been there and the Kentucky Derby, Daytona 500, etc etc. You don't know how many hundreds of millions of dollars worth of deals are transacted at these events. Companies take customers there. Not just one or two execs to enjoy the event. Customers treated to such events often sign the deal and the trip expense is minor considering the profit. Profit that they then pay taxes on. As I said, Obama can't figure out the connection and wants to kill another golden goose for the sake of impressing his blindly faithful minions.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg, then there is the best seats in the house at NHL, NBA, golf, tennis functions, you name it. You don't see this largesse in Japan, Korea, China, UK, France or Germany, do you.

Let's make this simple. If I give you a cookie, would you buy some lemonade from me. All the other countries you mentioned do it. China is one of the fastest growing biz-jet markets in the world. Maybe not to our largesse as you say, but then they don't have an economy our size either. Hummm? I wonder why? Oh yeah, thats because they run their counties like obama wants to run ours.

China´s GNP is soon to catch up with America, anyway the distances there are staggering still their executives fly commercial 99.9999% of the time and economy at that, not first class. Yes there are a number of Chinese billionaires who are buying private jets.

Finally someone who sticks up for aviation on an avaiton website! Well said Sparkie!

I love this fairness stuff. Jimmy Hoffa flies on a private jet with my union dues, and he doesn't any pay taxes. Nobody has a problem with that. Sparkie, Liberals don't want fuel moving it creates "Climate change". Our Celebrity in chief, Obama who just talked about global warming / climate change (terms change everyday) in the state of the union. The next weekend, Michelle jets off to ASE and he's in PBI playing golf. And I'm sure nobody has a problems with our dear leader polluting the environment. But I forgot, its only those rich republicans that pollute the environment with their private jets. Aleast execs can afford their private jet, unlike Obama.

What tax breaks, specifically? The same depreciation schedules that every company gets for major capital expenditures? We've covered this before, the ultimate taxation is not changed, only the timing of the deduction. Taxpayers aren't subsidizing corporate aircraft.

I have to agree Brian, any sort of machinery used to make money, is a business expense...... used in order to produce more revenue.

I get to deduct a per Diem of $55 a day when away from home doing work or laying over. Business expense.

A retailer I know of, uses his fleet of 8 aircraft to ferry employees back and forth for product training. Almost on a daily basis. That cost is deductible under current laws. The practice is also a highly efficient way of containing costs of overnight lodging, travel, and productivity. And it has been proven to increase revenues.

One company who's operations cover a 33 state area, must have transport available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to manage not only incidents, but to keep in contact with customers and regulators.

Yes, there are endless stories pro and con. However, I find it unbecoming of a man who is the Leader [sic] of a major world power, who speaks towards economic development, to resort to what can only be viewed as class warfare. Further, to ignore the economic impact, is akin to living under a large rock.

Let's see here,Private Jet Charter costs $2400 an hour. Air Force One costs $180,000 an hour. I have no idea how much Michelles Jet Runs an hour, but I am sure it is a six digit figure. The people I fly aroung generate jobs and stimulate the economy because they are good at it.

If it were up to me, the ones at the top of our government would only get a C-21(Lear Jet 35). I was taught to lead by example while serving in the military. I say to our leaders.....Lead Follow or Get The Hell out of the way.

It's funny that this story popped up today. I was looking at the History Channel yesterday, and they had a special about Air Force One et al. Apparently, whenever AF1 travels, AF2 must travel along in case something happens. They also take 'The Beast' and 2 other presidential limos on a C130, I believe. I'm not sure if anything has changed, but that's a lot of fuel being used at a very high hourly rate.

If you do away with depreciation and expense deductions on private aircraft then to be fair you would do the same on cars, airline travel, all capital expenditures, etc. in other words just go to a flat use tax. Ok!

The man does not understand that we are not a Democracy... We are a Republic... Seeing how he does not usually put his hand over his heart when reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, it is no wonder that he does not understand the term "to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God," He certainly does understand the Under God, I doubt he knows what a Republic is and that is a key statement that governs our country.

I have... you may want to check on the section by Hitler, Mussolini, Saddam. None of these got stated into power all at once.. They all started just like Obama is now... I do not understand why people can see the history, and ignore... Do the same thing over and over and expect the same results. All 3 above got the Same Start that obama has now... A little at a time, and get the hook into people and then it is too late.

There were 1,466 private jet crashes in 2011, resulting in 263 fatalities. And there are 19,258 private jets in the world... fact #1 (Overall, 11,261 private jets were registered for use in the United States, and 7,997 in the rest of the world) 7.6% of the jets crashed that year.. that seems kind of high?

Reviewing the latter report (which is rather lengthy), the overall accident trends over the decade from 2001 - 2010 with some variation year to year, but 2011 was not included. Fatality rates per flight hour have been pretty consistent year to year.

Since Washington is the mood of banning things lately (Guns). Lets just band Part 91, and 135 operators from flying corporate jets, because they're "unsafe". That way a ton of people would lose their job, and Obama can create more dependents, and more democrat voters, and therefore more "stimulus". Its hard to win elections, when you're running against Santa Claus.

I suspect someone twisted "incidents" into "crashes". I can think of no other reason why the fatality rate would be that low. Getting a wheel stuck in the mud while taxiing will show up in the NTSB database if it is reported.